Here
is
the design
of a 2.4 GHz antenna that is ideal for amateur satellite
communications.
This antenna is easy to assemble because the design itself tolerates
inaccuracies
in the construction without really affecting performance. And with this
antenna, you won't have any difficulties working all current and future
amateur satellites offering the 2.4GHz. band. An exception though is
AO-40,
which requires a parabolic antenna.

The
following
drawings and tables
describe quite well the construction of this antenna. You can
mouse-click
on all drawings to get a zoomed view of them.

Here are a
few
additional notes
to consider:

Using a
felt tip
pen, mark the wire
at every 14.75 cm, the equivalent length of one turn of wire. In total,
mark the wire 17 times (16 turns). Perform this task on a flat surface
such as a table before forming the wire turns.

To form
the wire
coil, use a cylinder
shaped tube with a diameter slightly smaller that the final diameter to
achieve. In the end, all the pen markings should line up with each
other.

Drill
holes
whose
size matches the
hot glue sticks (standoffs) diameter. In this case, a 1.1 cm (7/16")
diameter
is required. Drill only one face of the square boom, that is, the face
which will receive the standoff.

The hot
glue
stick
standoffs are
cut 0.3 cm longer than the optimal length that would maintain the wire
coil centered around the boom. Remember to include in your calculations
the part of the stick that is inserted inside the boom. For my antenna,
the total length was 3.1 cm.

A 0.3
cm deep
slot
is grooved at
the tip of each of the standoffs. The slot depth is calculated in order
to maintain the wire coil centered with reference to the square boom.
In
this case a coil radius of 2.3 cm is targeted. The easiest way to
create
the slots is to use a heated piece of #12 (AWG) wire and to force it
against
the standoff tip. This will melt the tip down to the required slot
depth.

The
standoff tip
slots must be oriented
with an angle of 12 degrees with the antenna reflector. This will
accomodate
the wire coil and preserve its shape.

You can
apply
some
hot glue at the
standoff extremeties. This will hold the wire in place.

You can paint
the
antenna parts
that are more susceptible to deterioration: the hot glue standoffs, the
copper wire and matching plate.